Wrigley: Front-End Upsize

Making Freshness Big

Wrigley’s brands bring smiles to faces all around the globe. Wrigley employs approximately 17,000 associates globally and operates as a subsidiary of Mars, Incorporated. Wrigley wanted to develop new stick gum packaging that accommodated 35 piece count. They reached out to BOOM Designs for assistance.

On Shelf Branding That Sticks

Working with Wrigley’s design team, we helped develop a plastic package that could accept a paperboard sleeve. This assisted with filling and keeping the sticks upright while reinforcing Wrigley’s brand. We also decided on incorporating an outer wrap that utilizes a diamond-fold heat seal for freshness. We maximized the shelf height and depth to create a large display face while reducing the number of empty SKUs on a shelf. The outcome is a standout POS (point of sale) product that emphasizes Wrigley’s branding while sustaining fresh, long-lasting sticks of gum.

Project Audit: A Passion For Learning

Optimizing partnerships require a critical eye. After the launch of every project, we conduct a project audit to identify key learnings and opportunities. We had many important takeaways from partnering with Wrigley.

Integration into Wrigley’s Global Design Team. Making sure we stay true to our promise of collaboration, we became one with the team at Wrigley. We were on the ground, working side by side with Wrigley’s Global Design Team throughout every phase of the process – larger and small. Being on site every day, enabled us to be part of the every-day design conversations and build close working relationships that cannot be found at a traditional design firm.

The Power of Iterative Cross Functional Collaboration. We had the fantastic opportunity to work with Wrigley’s cross-functional team and use the industry’s best practices to embed a thorough ideation process. Also, we were able to meet with principal team members and stakeholders early and often throughout the project design process.

Embed Intellectual Property through the Project. Being involved in every stage of the design process, we were able to work with Wrigley’s designers and legal team to build an efficient share-out process during the development. Working with Wrigley’s legal team, we established IP potential and created a product design solution that was unique in the confectionary industry.

Address Barriers to Penetrate. We gained a thorough understanding of the retail environment and constraints. Collaborating with project leads, we were able to develop multiple merchandising solutions that highlighted on shelf differentiations while staying within the limits set by the team. We co-created graphic solutions with other Wrigley external partners to highlight the structure and visual identity. Finally, since we were on site and working closely with Wrigley every step of the journey, we were able to iterate rapidly – testing complete merchandising, visual identity and structural designs.

The Importance of Existing Assets. Our design team gained valuable exposure to the current equipment constraints from Wrigley’s experienced engineers. We utilized this information to help develop solutions that were particular to Wrigley. We implemented these manufacturing constraints in the designs while still pushing the boundaries.

Established Desirability Attributes Document. While we were working on the project, Wrigley, and our team, noticed that no formal document captured the critical desirability elements. Therefore, we worked with upper management to create a proprietary document that the team could use to establish specific attributes as the design shifted hands in the product development process. This document is not only being used throughout the product development process at Wrigley, but it is also part of the IP process.